Get Motivated

How Motivation Really Works

If you struggle with your weight, if you want to be fitter, stronger, faster, more muscular, have less pain and more energy, then nothing is more important to achieving these goals than having the will to make it happen.

Because it’s not that. It’s not thinly veiled at all. I’m going to make it blatantly friggin’ obvious that I want you to buy my book. Prepare yourself for some serious sales pitchery.

But before we get into that, perhaps some actual useful information: If you struggle with your weight, if you want to be fitter, stronger, faster, more muscular, have less pain and more energy, then nothing is more important to achieving these goals than having the will to make it happen.

The law of gravity is a real physical law of the universe. The “law of attraction” is not. Just wishing for something isn’t going to magically power it into your lap. To get in shape, you’ve got to understand the psychology and put together a lifestyle plan and act on it.

Now don't get your knickers in a twist because I used the words "psychology" and “lifestyle plan.” I've done my best not to make you blow your groceries. There aren’t any group hugs or self-affirmations or other new-age bullsh*t.

Nevertheless, it is critical to understand that the most important aspect of getting in shape isn’t knowledge, a new exercise technique or superior genetics, and it certainly isn’t taking the latest miracle pill advertised in an Internet pop-up window or guzzling $7 bottles of unpronounceable berry juice that taste like the sweat wrung from a football player’s jock strap. The critical component of fitness is something altogether different, so read this next sentence as if your ability to succeed at getting in shape depends upon it, because it does:

Motivation Rules All!

Willpower, tenacity, determination, gumption — whatever you want to call it, it all amounts to the same thing: the ability to put down the doughnut and get your ass off the couch. In other words, if you can’t motivate yourself, then you’re screwed. And potato shaped. You’re a screwed potato. By the way, I wasn’t talking about you specifically. That was a metaphorical doughnut-scarfing couch potato I referred to.

The real “how-to” of motivation

Motivation does not come from reading syrup-laden sob stories of various fat people who found meaning in their lives by getting six-pack abs, and looking at impressive before-and-after pictures is not a realistic method for strengthening your will. Oh, and neither is Tony Robbins-ing your “mental blueprint.” Whatever the hell that means.

Cognitive behavioral change is a science, and there are proven strategies and logical steps you can follow that will develop your determination to get in shape. Willpower is like a muscle. If you never work out and have a crappy diet, then I’m sorry to say that your willpower muscle sucks right now, at least as it applies to leading a healthy lifestyle. You may have tremendous drive to be a kickass accountant, salesman, carpenter, teacher or dog groomer, for all I know. What is important to understand is that your getting-in-shape motivation will not instantly transform you from Danny DeVito into Arnold Schwarzenegger.

I don’t expect you to read a single article on motivation, then have some miraculous light go off and instantly decide to make a complete 180-degree change in your lifestyle. I don't know too many people who can do that without believing God personally threatened to shove a lightening bolt up their ass if they don't start a fitness program. Psychological research proves that people hate change, which is why my approach is gradual and step-by-step. If you jump completely onto the fitness bandwagon overnight, then you are probably going to fall right back off. This is not a personal failing in you; it is simple human nature.

This is where the major reality check comes in: You must get past the mentality of the quick fix. There is no quick fix. There is no fast and there is no easy.

You didn’t turn flabby overnight, and you’re not going to undo it in a few weeks. If you choose the intense-torture method of complete lifestyle change, chances are high that you will quit after a few weeks. Then that time is going to pass by anyway, and you’ll be back where you started; a year from now, you will still be in poor shape. You will still be a metaphorically screwed potato. Or you could be more realistic and in a year or so have transformed your lifestyle and your body.

Getting in shape has tremendous rewards, but achieving it is difficult. Nothing good comes without effort, and this may be one of the most challenging things you ever do. It takes dedication to ditch bad habits and adopt good ones. If it were easy, then 70% of North Americans wouldn’t be overweight, and more than the paltry figure of 23% of the population would be exercising enough to achieve minimal health benefits.

Skip the soul searching

I also don’t want you to worry that my book is some kind of hippie love-in approach to fitness motivation. This doesn’t mean I advocate the high-school-football coach method, but I do realize that you’re a guy. The soul-searching, Richard-Simmons-prancing-in-pink-spandex stuff is left out. I’ve replaced it with reality. I promise not to include anything in this book that you couldn’t discuss with the guys over a beer or four.

Mmm, beer…

Anyway, the motivational strategies, strategic planning, goal-setting and time-management advice in Mission: Motivation was written for the average guy with endless demands on his time. Does this guy sound familiar to you?

Blatant advertising alert: Did you know you can get my book for Kindle, Kobo, Nook and iTunes?

No quick fix

This is where the major reality check comes in: You must get past the mentality of the quick fix. There is no quick fix. There is no fast and there is no easy. There is only long and hard (get your mind out of the gutter). I have one agenda in Mission: Motivation, and that is to tell you the truth about motivation, diet and exercise. Unfortunately, the truth is going to hurt.

Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it’s about as reliable as Lindsay Lohan as your designated driver.

Don’t fret too much, though, because after a while, you will learn to love eating healthy and exercising your ass off. I’m going to teach you how to enjoy living this way. You too can be one of those fit people who are the envy of the gravitationally enhanced.

What do you say? [Insert asthmatic-sounding Sith Lord voice here] “Join me, and we can rule the galaxy!”